STORY: Spain's big banks issue improved economic outlook for 2024
SHOOTING TIME: Oct. 18, 2024
DATELINE: Oct. 19, 2024
LENGTH: 00:02:35
LOCATION: BARCELONA, Spain
CATEGORY: ECONOMY

SHOTLIST:
1. various of Barcelona
2. SOUNDBITE 1 (Spanish): JAVIER VAZQUEZ, Associate professor of economics at the University of Barcelona 
3. various of tourists near hotels
4. SOUNDBITE 2 (Spanish): JAVIER VAZQUEZ, Associate professor of economics at the University of Barcelona
5. various of manufacturing workers
6. various of a container ship
7. SOUNDBITE 3 (Spanish): JAVIER VAZQUEZ, Associate professor of economics at the University of Barcelona
8. various of people making transactions at ATMs and currency exchange locations
9. various of vehicles and people in the center of the city

STORYLINE:

Two of Spain's major banks this week joined international and national financial institutions in forecasting that the growth of the Spanish economy this year will surpass earlier expectations.

CaixaBank and BBVA have both raised their outlook for the country's economic growth in 2024 to 2.8 percent and 2.9 percent, respectively.

This follows the decision in September by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to raise its growth prediction for Spain by one percentage point to 2.8 percent.

Also last month, the Spanish government revised its forecast upwards to 2.7 percent, following the Bank of Spain's decision to increase its GDP growth prediction to 2.8 percent.

SOUNDBITE 1 (Spanish): JAVIER VAZQUEZ, Associate professor of economics at the University of Barcelona
"The rise in the forecasts for economic growth has a lot to do with the labor market and in particular the evolution of the labor market related to services and foreign tourism, which in the past few months, over the summer, was much better than expected."

According to the Spanish National Statistics Institute, tourist overnight stays in Spain reached an all-time high this summer, beating the previous record set before the pandemic in 2019.

BBVA said the adjustment to its economic growth forecast is based on elements such as improved service competitiveness, an increase in the workforce due to migrants, the reduction in interest rates, and the drop in inflation.

Meanwhile, CaixaBank highlighted the role of strong exports, citing a 30 percent increase in the number of exporting companies compared to a decade ago, meaning that exports now account for 38 percent of GDP compared to 26 percent in 2013.

SOUNDBITE 2 (Spanish): JAVIER VAZQUEZ, Associate professor of economics at the University of Barcelona
"What also helped the Spanish economy is the fall in energy prices, particularly fuel prices, because Spain is an importer of fuel and this has a series of related effects that lower industry costs, make production less expensive, and raise internal demand as ordinary people consume more."

However, the professor has warned that continued and sustained economic growth could not be taken for granted, especially in the tourism sector, which "is reaching a certain limit in terms of capacity."

SOUNDBITE 3 (Spanish): JAVIER VAZQUEZ, Associate professor of economics at the University of Barcelona
"All this growth also has to do with the government's fiscal measures, which at some point will also reach their limit. And while the Next Generation EU funds may still have a way to go, everything to do with the post-Covid recovery is starting to come to an end."

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Barcelona, Spain.
(XHTV)